Neuropeptidomes of Tenebrio molitor L. and Zophobas atratus Fab. (Coleoptera, Polyphaga: Tenebrionidae)

Abstract

Neuropeptides are signaling molecules that regulate almost all physiological processes in animals. Around 50 different genes for neuropeptides have been described in insects. In Coleoptera , which is the largest insect order based on numbers of described species, knowledge about neuropeptides and protein hormones is still limited to a few species. Here, we analyze the neuropeptidomes of two closely related tenebrionid beetles: Tenebrio molitor and Zophobas atratus —both of which are model species in physiological and pharmacological research. We combined transcriptomic and mass spectrometry analyses of the central nervous system to identify neuropeptides and neuropeptide-like and protein hormones. Several precursors were identified in T. molitor and Z. atratus , of which 50 and 40, respectively, were confirmed by mass spectrometry. This study provides the basis for further functional studies of neuropeptides as well as for the design of environmentally friendly and species-specific peptidomimetics to be used as biopesticides. Furthermore, since T. molitor has become accepted by the European Food Safety Authority as a novel food, a deeper knowledge of the neuropeptidome of this species will prove useful for optimizing production programs at an industrial scale.

Phylogenomics of darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from the Atacama Desert

“…Furthermore, we collected samples of 51 tenebrionid genera (33 additional tribes) from Central Chile (collecting permits CONAF No 005/2017), Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal (collecting permit No 757-758/2021/CAPT), Namibia (collecting permit NCRST RPIV01042034) and Peru (collecting permits SERFOR Nr D000019-2022) to improve taxon sampling for phylogenetic analyses. In addition, published peptide precursor sequences of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst, 1797) (Triboliini Gistel, 1848), Zophobas atratus (Fabricius, 1775) (Tenebrionini Latreille, 1802) ( Marciniak, Pacholska-Bogalska & Ragionieri, 2022 ) and Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, 1758 (Tenebrionini) ( Li et al, 2008 ; Veenstra, 2019 ; Marciniak, Pacholska-Bogalska & Ragionieri, 2022 ) were added to our dataset, while peptide precursor sequences of Neomida bicornis (Fabricius, 1777) (Diaperinae: Diaperini Latreille, 1802) were obtained by Blast searches in the NCBI database ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Traces/wgs?val=GDMA01 ). RNA was additionally extracted from seven taxa of Tenebrionoidea Latreille, 1802 (families Ciidae Leach, 1819, Meloidae Gyllenhaal, 1810, Mycetophagidae Leach, 1815, Pyrochroidae Latreille, 1807, Salpingidae Leach, 1815, Zopheridae Solier, 1834 and one Cleroidea (Melyridae Leach, 1815) ( Table 1 ), which were included in the phylogenetic analyses.…”

“… b transcriptome data from McKenna et al (2019) . c transcriptome data from Marciniak, Pacholska-Bogalska & Ragionieri (2022) . d species from Atacama Desert.…”

“…castaneum and Te. molitor ( Li et al, 2008 ; Veenstra, 2019 ; Marciniak, Pacholska-Bogalska & Ragionieri, 2022 ) were used as initial queries to search for orthologous sequences in the transcriptome assemblies. The assembled transcripts were analysed with the tblastn algorithms provided by NCBI ( https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi ) or BioEdit version 7.0.5.3 ( Hall, 1999 ).…”

Genomics, transcriptomics, and peptidomics of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella neuropeptides and their expression in response to lead stress

“…In this study, the amino acid sequences of the neuropeptide precursors of B. mori (Roller et al, 2008), M. sexta (Kanost et al, 2016), S. frugiperda (Shi et al, 2021), A. mellifera (Hummon et al, 2006), Apis cerana, D. melanogaster (Vanden Broeck, 2001), T. castaneum (Li et al, 2008;Veenstra, 2019;Xie et al, 2020), and other insects (Liessem et al, 2018;Ragionieri & Predel, 2020;Ragionieri et al, 2022;Marciniak et al, 2022) were used as queries for a local BLAST analysis to search for candidate sequences of neuropeptides in the G. mellonella transcriptomic and genomic data. However, we failed to find some neuropeptide precursors, including antidiuretic factor b, agatoxin-like peptide, allatostatin CCC, arginine-vasopressin-like peptide, CCHa3, CNMamide, Crf like-DH, diuretic hormones 44 (DH44) and 47 (DH47), elevenin, gonadulin, hansolin, insect parathyroid hormone, limostatin, protolin, relaxin, RFLamide, sex peptide, and vasopressin (Table 1).…”

Comparative analysis of adipokinetic hormones and their receptors in Blattodea reveals novel patterns of gene evolution

“…The aromatic residues phenylalanine (Phe) or tyrosine (Tyr) occur at position 4 and tryptophan (Trp) at position 8 (Gäde, 1997; Gäde, 2004; Li et al, 2016). Investigated insect species may synthesise only one AKH peptide, whereas others produce from two to as many as five different AKH peptides in their CC (Gäde, 2009; Gäde et al, 2013; Marciniak et al, 2022; Marco & Gäde, 2019; Veenstra, 2014). However, the evolutionary origins and relationships between AKH gene paralogues in insects are poorly characterised.…”